Mess up badly on CS and still pass?

I took CS a few days ago, and can't get it out of my head... the forgotten maneuvers, the awkwardness, struggling with the gown and sometimes seeming to irritate the standardized patients, forgetting things, stumbling over my tongue, leaving many, many things out of my notes due to lack of time or space, among other things. I don't think I normally have any problem at all with real patients, and am english speaking. Anybody have a similar bad time of it, and still pass? Sure would make waiting these next weeks easier to do, if I knew it could be done.

I'm having the same issue...Just comes back into my head whenever there's a free moment. I think of every little mistake, and I'm with you that a lot of my difficulty came in having enough space to report things in the notes. But, everyone's right, we just need to calm down for the next month and a half, and wait. Hang in there, you're not alone!

I can honestly say I felt the same way when I walked out - I forgot to ask this question or forgot to do this maneuver or forgot to write this down in the SOAP. I can say that they don't expect you to do everything. I got my score back 4 months later and passed. Everyone I talked to you said the same thing - they weren't sure if they passed because they forgot so much stuff, but everyone ended up passing.

I have to echo this...I felt like it went horribly (just took it this past week). I mean I forgot so much in every phase of the encounter, that I feel like there's a good chance I failed. Man I'm going to be really pissed if this worthless test messes up graduation

I have to echo this...I felt like it went horribly (just took it this past week). I mean I forgot so much in every phase of the encounter, that I feel like there's a good chance I failed. Man I'm going to be really pissed if this worthless test messes up graduation

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And we chant the chant of all tests in medical school..."You never remember what you did right, only what you did wrong." At least this is what I keep telling myself. The good news is as you get a little further out, I think I'm at three weeks, you start to forget stuff, and you won't be as hard on yourself. Just hang in, but I know that you feel like absolute crap right now. I felt exactly the same way, and continue to feel that way if the wind blows just so... Just remember, 90 something percent of AMG's pass...chances are we will too.

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The thing that pisses me off about CS the most (well,many things piss me off actually) is the fact you can't go back into the room and ask more questions. How is this supposed to simulate real medicine exactly? Pretty frequently I, along with intern, residents, fellows, and attendings, go back into the room and ask questions we forgot to ask once we've considered the patient a little bit while presenting the case, writing the note, et cetera.

What is messing up badly? I forgot to do psoas and obturator tests on a patient with suspected appendicits. It seems like a really stupid mistake. I also found myself really rushed - 15 minutes is not enough time for a history and physical on a patient you have never met before, especially if you are expected to get social, sexual, and family history, etc.

The thing that pisses me off about CS the most (well,many things piss me off actually) is the fact you can't go back into the room and ask more questions. How is this supposed to simulate real medicine exactly? Pretty frequently I, along with intern, residents, fellows, and attendings, go back into the room and ask questions we forgot to ask once we've considered the patient a little bit while presenting the case, writing the note, et cetera.

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exactly, this is just one of many points where the CS proves itself to be a complete farce (along with horrible acting, terse conversation, and everything else that the CS entails).

Stupidest exam ever!!!!!!
I forgot to do an (important) abdominal exam just as I was leaving the door . Most of my friends tell similar stories. I couldn't sleep for 3 months....until I got my results.... i passed and I had totally had a suck day.

But quieting all that anxiety is easier said than done...just ask my friends

Well, as the peasant said when somebody told him that all of his animals had drowned in the river. He then asked: "And those of Johnson ?"
"Also drowned"
"And those of Jackson ?"
"Also drowned "
"And those of my other neighbors ?"
"Same"
"Well, things are not so bad as I thought"

In these current days I am FEELING veeeery LOW. I failed twice. Now I see that I am not exactly an idiot. It is the freeekkking test that is a motherless bastard, carefully prepared to make you feel like a moron

Well, as the peasant said when somebody told him that all of his animals had drowned in the river. He then asked: "And those of Johnson ?"
"Also drowned"
"And those of Jackson ?"
"Also drowned "
"And those of my other neighbors ?"
"Same"
"Well, things are not so bad as I thought"

In these current days I am FEELING veeeery LOW. I failed twice. Now I see that I am not exactly an idiot. It is the freeekkking test that is a motherless bastard, carefully prepared to make you feel like a moron

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are you at an american med school? does your school have OSCE and other simulated pt encounters? If you failed twice it seems like something might be lacking in your med school curriculum.

I messed up horribly and have been going crazy. It was stupid mistakes i always made. I wased my hands every time, then realized i forgot I had a small band-aid on for a paper cut (3 encounters later), so I should have put gloves on also. I am always soooo conscious during PE. So I am freaking out.

I walked out of Step 2 CS feeling as if I had failed it. I took too much time with the history on my first patient and only had 5 minutes to do an exam on a guy with multiple complaints. I walked out of the room as time was called and said, "I will come back to do a complete neuro exam on you." I didn't know what else to do! Of course, this would be the first case which set the stage for my being paranoid for the rest of the day! I also had trouble with the notes due to time and space limits. I felt terrible when I left, especially with everyone else around me talking about what a farce the exam was.

Two months later, I found out that I passed! I must admit, my hands were shaking as I opened that score report! Several of my friends had similar experiences and all of them also passed, even though they forgot to drape patients, wash their hands, etc. I know that you are really anxious right now, but try to relax and not worry about it until you get the score report.

As I left the exam room of the last patient encounter I realized that I had not summarized the history for a patient the entire day. There are countless other things I forgot to do as well. Guess I'll find out in 8-12 weeks.

1. forgot a hand washing
2. Physical exams were muddled
3. missed THE diagnosis in the differential TWICE
4. Notes were sloppy, unreadable (scrawl) and disorganized
5. Mis-recorded the results of an exam
^. Did not order a pelvic on a woman who needed one
7. Never ordered a rectal

Look.. after the abyssmal performance on my Step II CS, I put aside the money for another go because I KNEW I had failed. I am not going into how badly I screwed the thing up, but suffice it to say that I forgot to wash my hands multiple times, forgot to order a pregnancy test on an assault victim, and literally had no idea what a couple of the patients had going on. I simply walked out and said, "Yep, I am a loser. Try again in a few months."
Then, after months of anguish and giving up on any chance of a summer abroad, I find out I passed the damn thing. It is a total joke, I was more prepared and did better on my school practice exams, which I barley passed, then this group grope. It is just a blantant attempt at putting another hand in our pockets, and a way to descriminate against those with "funny" accents and different colored skin.
Best advice I could give folks waiting for their results is just go with the assumption that you passed it. I lost a lot of sleep over something that is obvioulsy determined with all the objective deliberation of the Saturday night powerball drawing. To those who have failed it twice, I guess you should invest in a rabbit's foot and practice looking white.

I just found out I passed as well! My screwups:
-didn't do a mini-mental on a guy with memory loss
-forgot to drape a couple of times
-had a proctor look into the room when I was ending the encounter for too long after the time was called
-told a patient who was supposed to be NPO that I'll give her pain medications
-did some abdominal exams on the patient's left
-made some long pauses between questions, during which my mind was totally blank
-forgot to ask a guy with SOB about smoking history, only asked him during lung exam
etc, etc

Oh, and I am NOT a native English speaker and I have a funny accent. SP totally could have thought I was an FMG, especially since I was stupid enough to wear a long white coat with no emblem, instead of my school's short coat.

I am SO SO HAPPY to see this thread. I just took CS a few weeks ago and I get nauseated just thinking about it. I completely ran out of time on 3 patients (a complete neuro exam takes FOREVER) and there were some times when I wasn't sure if I was going down the wrong line of questioning or not. I'm not a bad student and I walked out of there feeling worse than I felt leaving Step I. (I had just finished a medicine subI too, so I had some degree of confidence walking in.) Oh well, guess we'll see in 2 months I can't help but plan for the worst case scenario though; hopefully my residency program will let me start and just let me take the stupid thing again if I have to.

Hello all,
I am an IMG and did the OASIS TRICK on efmg.org and i was striked that it let me register and go ahead. my score is already reported on 28 march 2007.
Does that mean i simply failed???????
what's the chance for an IMG to pass despite being allowed to register on IWA?

It takes around 14 days to get the result by snail mail.

I would appreciate it if I can read replies from IMGs with similar situation.

What makes me concerned is that i did very well during the exam. I wrote nearly full PNs and behaved well with pts. My language was good as i spent 2 months doing elective course in the U.S before the exam. I have never forgot to Knock the door, naming pts, wash hands, taking permission, or exteding the couch for P/E. I answered all the challenging questions when asked. mistakes "which i consider them minor " include forgetting to do do complete pulmonary exam except auscultation for a case when indicated, not closing all (~1/2) the counters with conclusion. I had one case where i was nearly totally confused with, there i kept repeating same questions for the pt and he looked anxious form me, and i was mingled with the p/e, but i think that even complete failure in one case would'nt affect the pass/fail result along with doing fine in the others, isn't that?

I don't know what to do in such a case where there is nothing to do exept waiting the snail for the mail.

Since I started this thread and know the dread of the wait, I just wanted to update it with the answer to my own question, which is yes, it's possible to mess up badly, omit key aspects of the physical exam--i.e., omit making ANY sort of contact with the entire body part with the injury/issue--, not record major parts of the history, have downright bad rapport with a patient or two , basically never wrap up or verbally diagnose anything, certainly not use alcohol on your stethoscope or any such type kissing of a--, and still pass.

I can only really relate to those people who thought this test was torture to take, and it's to those people I say, it's most likely you don't need to be worried about having to repeat the torture session.

I am sure you would have recived your scores by now...
If your score was alredy sent out and OASIS lets you go through the registration thats means fail. If you pass you will see red letters saying " our records indicate you have already passed this step.. bla bla". this trick works for sure. 100% sensitive. But remember that this trick works ONLY after your score is sent. If you try to apply before the scores were actually sent, it will let you go through the registration.

Hello all,
I am an IMG and did the OASIS TRICK on efmg.org and i was striked that it let me register and go ahead. my score is already reported on 28 march 2007.
Does that mean i simply failed???????
what's the chance for an IMG to pass despite being allowed to register on IWA?

It takes around 14 days to get the result by snail mail.

I would appreciate it if I can read replies from IMGs with similar situation.

What makes me concerned is that i did very well during the exam. I wrote nearly full PNs and behaved well with pts. My language was good as i spent 2 months doing elective course in the U.S before the exam. I have never forgot to Knock the door, naming pts, wash hands, taking permission, or exteding the couch for P/E. I answered all the challenging questions when asked. mistakes "which i consider them minor " include forgetting to do do complete pulmonary exam except auscultation for a case when indicated, not closing all (~1/2) the counters with conclusion. I had one case where i was nearly totally confused with, there i kept repeating same questions for the pt and he looked anxious form me, and i was mingled with the p/e, but i think that even complete failure in one case would'nt affect the pass/fail result along with doing fine in the others, isn't that?

I don't know what to do in such a case where there is nothing to do exept waiting the snail for the mail.

WOw...I know how the people posting on here feel. I recently took the CS and cannot stop ruminating about all of the mistakes I made (forgot to get the PSH/Meds/All/SH/FH on a newborn, didn't fill in every single differential space with potential diagnoses for the differential, forgot to mention entire considerations in the differential for many patients, etc...).

Needless to say, I feel like crap about the whole thing. All I care about is passing this thing. This is a horrible feeling.